


Witchcraft

by foldyourclothes



Series: Heart Wants [1]
Category: Uta no Prince-sama
Genre: Blow Jobs, Cat Ears, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, OT4, Sharing a Bed, self indulgent fic, so many cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 15:03:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18741448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foldyourclothes/pseuds/foldyourclothes
Summary: A witch casts a spell on Ranmaru at a meet and greet, so Quartet Night have to go on a roadtrip to get him cured. And Ranmaru's starting to think that maybe there's more to this spell than just the cat ears...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> kaljfdksljfdk so I love all the QN boys with Ranmaru and I love kitty ears Ranmaru so here this is. To be clear, Camus/Ran and Reiji/Ran are the main pairings here, Ran/Ai is less prominent. Please enjoy!

“HA!”

At the time, a triumphant laugh had seemed like a weird response to a handshake. Ranmaru was unable to contain his confused reaction.

Then he started feeling dizzy. He fell to his knees, but the fan (?) in front of him kept gripping his hand.

“Kurosaki Ranmaru, you are now under my spell! Quo declinavit dilectus tuus, et ultra --”

“Hey!” Someone shouted. Camus? The fan’s hand was smacked away from his, leaving him to drop to the ground. He felt like all his energy had been sapped away.

“Ranmaru!” It was Ai, he thought, trying to shake him back to awareness. He groaned.

A commotion was starting, and other girls in line were gasping in distress at the scene. He heard another confident shout over the noise. “Hmph!! You’ll regret this! Hands off of me!”

At this point his world spiraled quickly into darkness.

 

* * *

 

Ranmaru was in a dressing room lying on a couch when next his eyes blinked open. _Well, that was a crazy dream,_ he thought to himself, until he realized that he was surrounded by his band.

“Ranmaru! Oh, what a relief.” Reiji said, lowering his head to the couch cushion. He was sitting on the floor. Ai smiled from a chair a few feet away, and Camus straightened up from where he was leaning against a wall.

“What the hell is going on?” Ranmaru grumbled, sitting up. He felt very weird.

“You passed out at the meet and greet!” Reiji answered quickly. “And not long after, um, something weird happened to you, so we brought you in here to hide out…” His eyes locked on to the top of Ranmaru’s head.

Ranmaru brought his hand up to where Reiji was looking, and collided with something fuzzy. Disturbingly, he also felt his hand _from_ the fuzzy thing’s perspective. He felt it react, and flatten down onto his head.

“What. The _fuck_. Is this?” Ranmaru asked, his voice rising. Camus, having the audacity to look slightly amused, came forward with his camera app open, and turned it to face Ranmaru.

On top of his head, flattened like a hissy cat, were two triangle shaped black ears. When Ranmaru leaned forward to look closer, they straightened up and turned forward inquisitively. He felt it happen.

Ranmaru was speechless. He looked up at Camus dumbly.

“Though I would have previously thought it impossible, I believe you’ve been cursed.” Ai supplied.

Reiji nodded somewhat helplessly. “I even googled it. There’s not exactly a webMD page for this.”

“Well, where the hell is that girl then?” Ranmaru asked.

“She slipped into the crowd.” Ai said. “But she did drop something.” He handed Ranmaru what appeared to be the edge of a ripped notebook page. An address was scribbled on it.

“While you were incapacitated, we were thinking of a plan…” Ai continued. “Now that you don’t appear to be dying, we should go to this address and try to find her. Maybe we can convince her to reverse what she’s done.”

Reiji sighed. “Nobody knows what’s happened except for us. I guess they’d call us crazy if we told them our theory…”

“ _I_ think you’re crazy!” Ranmaru said. “This isn’t right. I’m still asleep or something.”

Camus smacked him over the head, clearly ruling out that theory. “Ow!”

“Face the facts, odd as they may be. We should resolve this quickly.”

Ranmaru jumped to his feet, teeth bared. “Oh, that’s your wisdom? Easy for you to be so calm! You don’t have some kind of freak appendages sticking out of your head!”

No one in the room was taking him seriously. Reiji even giggled in the silence that followed. “I’m sorry RanRan, the ears are too cute when you’re mad.”

 

* * *

 

The address was a few day’s drive away. What happened at the meet n’ greet had caused many fans to be worried about Ranmaru, but they had their manager issue a statement about them taking a week off to make sure he was 100%.

Trying to arouse as little suspicion as possible, they rented a lower-end sedan and got on the road. Ranmaru used a beanie to cover his cat ears most of the time, the fall weather making this choice not out of the ordinary.

On the first day, they spent a lot of time speculating about the nature of the curse. Anything that happened was a potential symptom. Did it cause traffic to get worse? Did it make ice cream machines at McDonalds break in proximity?

“I think it’s making you grumpier, RanRan.” Reiji hypothesized from the front of the car. He nodded knowingly when Ranmaru responded, “Would you shut up already?”

Internally, Ranmaru was going through his own private struggle. The situation was already insane, but he feared that it was getting weirder.

He was having all these… feelings. Kind of empty, kind of lonely. He couldn’t stop squirming, his skin crawling uncomfortably. At first it was just annoying, but it was steadily getting worse, accompanied by a pounding headache. Ai was clearly watching him from the seat beside him, so he tried not to show it too much.

Finally at their next rest stop, he couldn’t take it anymore. It was too embarrassing to broach with the whole group, but Reiji was a touchy-feely guy, right? He could probably help him diagnose this, and wouldn’t laugh at him too much.

As the other two headed into the bathroom he grabbed Reiji by the jacket and dragged him around the corner.

“Hey, wha - “

“I think there’s another part of the curse.” He saw Reiji listen up and stop protesting the rough treatment. “Could you, uh, help me figure it out?”

“Sure RanRan, what’s the problem?” Reiji asked.

Ranmaru shuffled his feet. “I don’t feel… good.”

Reiji laughed a little. “Can you give me more detail? Are you carsick? You can sit in the front if you want.”

“No, that’s not it. My head hurts. And I don’t feel good like, emotionally.” The last word was barely a mumble, but Reiji caught it anyway. God, this was bad for his image.

“Aw!” Reiji gave him a pitying look that Ranmaru hated. “Don’t worry, we’ll get this curse removed in no time!” He patted Ranmaru on the shoulder in his familiar way. Normally Ranmaru hated it when Reiji invaded his personal space, but he actually felt a surge of warmth at the touch.

“That helped!” He said, looking at the hand on his shoulder and then back to Reiji’s face with wide eyes.

Reiji looked surprised at his reaction. “Well, it was supposed to help…”

“Do it again!”

Reiji looked baffled, but patted him on the shoulder again. “We’ll get this curse removed in no time?”

Ranmaru smiled, feeling better already. Even his head felt better, though it was hard to tell if that wasn’t just pain meds kicking in. “I don’t really understand, but it’s still helping.”

“What, did she curse you to need a hug?” Reiji joked, wrapping his arms around Ranmaru’s middle. He would never turn down a chance to be cuddly with his normally sullen bandmate.

Almost immediately, Ranmaru sagged, causing Reiji to squeak under the weight, “Woah!”

It felt amazing _._ Tingling sensations were running up and down his body, his skin sparking wherever contact was met with Reiji. Unable to resist, he pushed his face into the crook of Reiji’s neck, getting the tingles there as well.

Ranmaru felt like his brain was switched off, adrift in relief. Reiji tried to give him a moment, but eventually he choked out, “RanRan, are you… purring…?”

Ranmaru opened his eyes. He became aware of the fact that he was basically molesting the smaller man, and also that the noise he’d attributed to a car idling was originating from himself. He pushed himself away. The noise died down quickly when he separated from Reiji, but he was mortified.

Even if he had almost certainly lost face with Reiji, it seemed like his weird desires were sated for now. “Sorry. Don’t tell the others about that.” Ranmaru said, clearing his throat.

Reiji beamed at him, surprisingly. “Don’t worry about it! You’re a good hugger, RanRan. You should do it more often.”

 

* * *

 

Reiji did not keep the encounter to himself, Ranmaru soon realized. That was asking too much.

Ai hugged him apropos of nothing when they were in line at the check-out counter, bright blue eyes staring right at Ranmaru’s face to gauge the reaction. (“W-what are you doing!?” “Reiji said we should do this to help you.”) He glared death at Reiji over his shoulder, who laughed nervously.

Camus waited long enough that Ranmaru was almost thinking that he would leave him alone, but he struck when he was giving Ranmaru his copy of the room key that night. As he handed it over, he leaned in, cupping the back of Ranmaru’s neck and breathing in his ear using his fake for-the-fans voice. “Looks like we’re sharing a room tonight.”

Caught off guard, Ranmaru was hit with a wave of tingles unlike previous times. He shivered visibly, staring open-mouthed at Camus when he pulled away with a bastardly smirk on his face. He remembered to be angry. “What’s your problem, you asshole!” He shouted, punching Camus's arm _._

“Just doing my part, Kurosaki.” Camus said in his usual baritone, still looking amused.

They had two adjoining rooms at the hotel, and Ranmaru was quick to gather everyone in one room. He ripped the beanie off his head, freeing his confined cat ears.

“Listen up.” He growled. “This might be funny to you guys, but it isn’t to me. I don’t know what’s happening to me, and it _sucks._ ”

The group had the decency to look sobered. Ai spoke up, a little sadly.

“She wanted you to be her perfect pet. So you couldn’t live without her attention.”

Ranmaru considered this, and it only made him angrier. He turned and punched the wall, leaving a dent. “That bitch has another thing coming if she thinks she can control me like this.” He snarled.

Reiji grimaced about the wall and stood up, but wisely kept his distance. “It’s okay RanRan, we’ll fix it soon! We should just get some rest and keep traveling in the morning. We’re here for you.”

He took a step toward Ranmaru, but the silver-haired man went for the door dividing their rooms, going quickly for the shower to get away from this awful conversation. Before he turned on the water, he heard the others speaking through the wall.

He heard Reiji’s muffled voice say, “... Probably won’t do well through the night. Camus, … one of us to switch … ?”

Ranmaru turned on the shower and got under the burning hot spray, brow furrowed. Great, now he was just a burden.

As a matter of fact, he _did_ have trouble sleeping that night. It was like a panging sensation in his heart mixed with the start of a migraine. It felt strongly that his bed was empty, and the more hours that went by, the worse it got. He refused to do anything about it, partially rebelling against the curse, and partially against Ai’s accurate prediction. But he did notice that Camus hadn’t switched beds with one of the others.

In the morning they got on the road. He waved off his band’s inquiries and tried to sleep against the window of the car, giving them the silent treatment. He was sick of the whole situation and trying to focus on getting through it.

The day was horrible. Ranmaru couldn’t catch a break. He stubbed his toe on a shelf at a restaurant and some plateware came crashing to the ground. His hat got blown off his head and into a puddle, but he had to keep wearing it to hide the damn ears. They were out of bananas at the coffee shop they stopped at.

The others were blessedly silent when he threw himself into bed shortly after they arrived at the next hotel, one day closer to their destination. Somehow his head was hurting more by the hour, and he wondered if he was going to throw up.

He must have passed out to some extent, because an unknown amount of time later, someone was getting into his bed. He realized he was drenched in sweat. “ _What -_ ” he rasped, but Camus cut him off.

“Shut up, Kurosaki. I’m tired of hearing you whine.” And then he bodily pulled Ranmaru toward him, effectively spooning him.

He felt a blessed jolt of relief in his temples, but fought on principle. “Ngh, get off me!” Ranmaru squirmed out of Camus's grasp, but his wrist was grabbed with surprising accuracy in the dark and he was pulled back. It devolved into a wrestling match, blankets and pillows flying.

Finally Camus pinned him, face down with his arm behind his back. Ranmaru grimaced into the mattress, unable to move without hurting his shoulder. “ _Stop_ , you idiot.” Camus hissed angrily. “You’d kill yourself to save your pride?”

“‘M not killing myself.” Ranmaru grumbled.

“We don’t know how this curse works. Do you want to chance that?”

Ranmaru hesitated for a moment, then Camus tightened his grip on his wrist threateningly. “Ow! Okay okay, fine.” He patted the bed with his other hand in an ‘I give’ motion.

Camus slowly released his hold, then leaned down to get the sheet that had been kicked down during the fight. Ranmaru pulled a pillow toward his head, the silence now deafening. His face was burning hot as he waited for Camus to settle behind him, throwing the sheet over them both. Was this seriously happening?

Truth be told, it wouldn’t be their first time sharing a bed. There was one time, after a wrap party, that Ranmaru hazily remembered. They had both been drunk, fumbling in the dark. Ranmaru had left before Camus woke up, and they never spoke of it. The memories were enough to make Ranmaru blush to this day; Camus was a good looking guy, after all. But they were the furthest possible from intimate in their daily lives. He never would expect his aloof bandmate to… offer to...

Ranmaru’s train of thought trailed off as Camus draped an arm over Ranmaru’s middle and pulled him close again, sighing in a way that tickled Ranmaru’s ear.

Camus's body felt good, cool against his heated skin. His migraine felt like it was peeling away in thin layers, but his head was still pounding.

“This is too weird.” He muttered after probably 30 minutes of restlessness. He was hyper aware of every move Camus made, and knew he wasn’t asleep either.

Camus rolled his eyes though Ranmaru couldn’t see him. Nothing could be easy with this man. “Is it helping, or not?”

“Kind of.”

“Turn over.” Camus said lowly, withdrawing his arm. Ranmaru complied, eyes searching in the darkness for Camus's face with no luck.

Camus pulled him forward again until their chests were flush. “Camus…” Ranmaru squirmed. “You don’t have to do this.”

“You can owe me.” Camus replied coolly, and kissed him.

Ranmaru returned the kiss ferociously before his brain could catch up. It felt like a dam had just been broken. Camus surged back, and their tongues slid together between clumsy collisions of teeth in the dark.

Ranmaru pushed his hand into Camus’s long hair, and Camus ran his hand down Ranmaru’s back in a long sweeping motion, making him shiver.

Ranmaru didn’t know how much time had passed, but he felt himself come to his senses. He pulled away, and Camus nipped his lip as he did, making him want to keep kissing those soft lips.

“W-what the fuck?” He said breathlessly, maybe a little too loud. Camus shushed him.

“I think what you mean to say is ‘thank you’.” Camus said haughtily, but he sounded out of breath too. Ranmaru would give a million bucks to see what he looked like right then.

Ranmaru growled at him. “This is your fault. You should’ve just left me alone.” He started pushing away, but at half an arms length his headache started to return sharply. He hadn’t even realized it had disappeared entirely, the kissing leaving in its wake pleasant tingles and a hard on. Ranmaru halted his movement with a grunt, squeezing his eyes shut. _Fuck this curse!_

“Just give it up, you idiot.” Camus said as he settled back down. “You need this, so stop fighting it.”

“And you’re just okay with that?” Ranmaru asked incredulously.

“I never said it couldn’t be mutually beneficial.”

Ranmaru paused. “What’re you trying to say?”

Camus gave a frustrated sigh. “Forget it. Just go to sleep, Kurosaki.”

Ranmaru wanted to argue, but in truth he was feeling much better and also exhausted. He gave a ‘ _hmph_ ’ and rolled over. Unlike before, he fell asleep almost immediately.

 

* * *

 

Next he was aware, morning light was glowing behind his eyelids. He felt incredibly comfortable, and turned his head away from the light, grumbling a little.

Then he felt the pillow beneath his head vibrate in a chuckle.

Ranmaru jerked his head up, and met eyes with none other than Camus, who he had apparently just been sleeping on. Memories of their midnight make-out session flooded back and he flushed, his ears flattening.

This amused Camus more, and he covered his mouth with one hand, laughing quietly.

“Shut up!” Ranmaru growled. He pushed away roughly, happy to find that he was able to do so with no discomfort. He stomped to the bathroom, deciding to leave that embarrassing situation as fast as possible. How did he even end up in that position?

 

Now that some time had passed, Ranmaru was starting to learn how the curse’s “intimacy” rules worked. It was no precise science, but to him it felt like a gas tank that got lower as time passed. Casual touches filled it up a little, but longer intimate moments could keep him going longer without pain.

It was extremely weird for an un-touchy-feely person like him. He was still flinching out of habit when someone entered his personal space. But even that was happening less and less as he became accustomed to the tingles that always followed.

Ai had taken to holding his hand in the car, when they happened to be sitting beside each other. He always seemed to wait until Ranmaru wasn’t paying much attention, staring out the window, then gently slipped his hand into Ranmaru’s. The first time Ranmaru had whipped his head around in surprise, and Ai had just stared back at him with those big blue eyes. Ranmaru felt his face get hot and averted his eyes, but left his hand where it was. Their hands sitting together in the open the middle of the seat felt very conspicuous to him, but there was no denying that he had been feeling a headache start to pound in his temples, and now it was easing. Ai’s hand was soft and delicate in his larger one, and they fit together nicely.

That afternoon Ranmaru was driving with Ai in the shotgun seat. Ranmaru was leaned back, one hand on the wheel and the other in his lap. He was surprised to feel a hand on his, pulling it toward the center console. Reiji whistled from the backseat and Ranmaru ducked his head, dying with embarrassment.

“Shut up, you’ll make him crash the car.” Camus said.

“Both of you shut up!” Ranmaru glared at them in the rear view mirror, but eventually settled back and left his hand grasping Ai’s like usual.

Except Ai was acting a little different this time. He threaded their fingers together. Waited. Lightly rubbed over Ranmaru’s thumb with his own. Waited. Did it again.

Ranmaru looked over, exasperated, and saw that Ai was on his cell phone. He could see a close-up picture of a couple holding hands on the page he was reading - it appeared to be a how-to website. It was easy to put together. Ai was looking up tips.

Ai was absorbed in his reading, but he gave Ranmaru’s hand a friendly squeeze as if he just read about that. Ranmaru snorted, and when Ai met his eyes, he seemed to know he’d been caught. The light blush on his cheeks was very… cute. Ranmaru gave him a shaky smile, trying to hold back laughter, and squeezed his hand back. Ai gave him a soft smile in return, and Ranmaru turned back to the road, feeling warm.

That night, they decided to watch a movie before bed. Ranmaru and Reiji sat on the couch while Camus and Ai lounged on each of the beds. Under the din of the action, Reiji turned to Ranmaru and asked quietly, “RanRan, can I touch your ears?”

Ranmaru had a moment of confusion before he remembered his _ears._ He gave Reiji a flat look, and received puppy eyes in return.

He sighed. “Fine.” He felt indebted to his band members for how much they had to help him with this curse daily. Besides, they were already almost cuddling as it was, Ranmaru sitting on one side of the couch and Reiji invading his space.

Reiji propped his elbow on the back of the couch, first running his hand through Ranmaru’s hair. Then he petted one of Ranmaru’s cat ears, hesitantly at first, and going slow. “They’re so soft.” He murmured, giggling a little but keeping his attention on the movie.

It was always weird being reminded that he had extra appendages that he hadn’t had before, and at first Ranmaru was just dealing with it to give Reiji his fix. Once he got used to it, though, he started to enjoy it. The ears were sensitive to touch, and Reiji was extra gentle and attentive to what Ranmaru liked or didn’t like. Ranmaru was leaning toward Reiji more before he realized it, not really paying attention to the movie anymore. Reiji was thrilled that the man beside him was actually relaxing for once, and even made incredulous eye contact with Camus over Ranmaru’s spiky head. Camus just raised an eyebrow.

Ranmaru sighed pleasantly as Reiji scratched at the base of one ear, and when his hot breath billowed around his face he realized he had his face in the crook of Reiji’s neck again. His mind felt hazy. Reiji’s hair was still slightly damp from an earlier shower, and he smelled good. Which is totally why on the next caress of Reiji’s fingers, Ranmaru reached across to grip the smaller man’s hip and pressed his open mouth to the juncture between his neck and shoulder.

Reiji made a noise half squawk and half moan. Ranmaru pushed away sharply, mirroring Reiji’s surprised expression with his own. He couldn’t even hear the movie over the rush of blood in his ears. “S… sorry,” he said, holding his head in his hand to try and pull it together.

The more he thought about the situation, the more it angered him. Whatever this witch did to him, it was his problem. His bandmates didn’t deserve to deal with it all the time too. The silence after Reiji’s outburst was heavy and awkward, and Ranmaru moved to leave.

Reiji grabbed his arm when he started to rise. “Wait, please.” He sounded earnest enough that Ranmaru stopped, looking down at him with a scowl.

“It’s okay. You’re my friend, RanRan. I - we - want to help you through this.” Reiji said, brown eyes imploring. Then, quieter, “I really don’t mind.”

Ranmaru didn’t know what to say. “You…” _don’t mind_? Reiji always was a physical person, but he was saying he didn’t care if Ranmaru molested him?

Reiji, embarrassed by the sudden confession, ducked his head and leaned it on Ranmaru’s shoulder. Ranmaru watched him for a moment, then stared back at the television, sitting stiffly and resolutely not looking at the others - way too embarrassing to see if they heard.

Once the movie ended, Ranmaru and Camus bid Reiji and a sleepy Ai goodnight, and went to their attached room. Ranmaru looked at Camus uneasily on the way, foreseeing another awkward conversation. With all the attention Reiji just gave him, maybe he could save some face and _not_ also get spooned by his rival.

“Listen, Camus,” He muttered, shutting the door behind him. Might as well get it over with. “I think - “

Camus shoved him and he hit the door with a loud thud. Before he could react, hungry lips were pressed against his own. Ranmaru’s hands flew up, pushing at Camus’s shoulders. _Way too loud!_

“You guys okay?” Reiji called through the thin door. Ranmaru was screaming internally.

“Kurosaki, don’t slam the door.” Camus admonished in his deep voice, eyes looking mockingly at Ranmaru.

Ranmaru clenched Camus’s shirt in his fist, hissing in a strangled tone, “What’s your problem, you bastard?” Camus’s lips quirked up, but Ranmaru smashed their lips together again before he could respond.

Their squabble was forgotten for the moment as Camus deepened the kiss, and Ranmaru used the hand wrapped in Camus’s shirt to haul him closer rather than push away. His heart was pounding in his chest, and blood started to run south. Everywhere Camus touched left a tingling, warm sensation in its wake, making him shiver.

Ranmaru tried to contain a moan as Camus pushed his knee between his legs. He yanked Camus by the shirt so hard he popped the first button off, and moved in to attack his neck.

Camus growled, presumably angry about the shirt, but voiced no further complaints. The room was quiet aside from their increasingly ragged breath as they ground into each other, Ranmaru mouthing at Camus’s neck. Camus hiked one of Ranmaru’s legs onto his hip and thrust forward again, and Ranmaru felt dizzy, moaning into Camus’s shoulder. Wanting to get away from the thin door separating them from Reiji and Ai, he pivoted and pushed Camus onto the bed. He quickly ripped his t-shirt over his head and tossed it aside as he climbed on top of Camus.

Settled on Camus’s hips, Ranmaru had another moment of hesitation. He didn’t want Camus to be going through with this only because he thought Ranmaru needed it to survive, or something. Though something pressing against the fly of his jeans was trying to convince him he _would_ die if he kept just sitting there.

Camus gave him a long, appreciative once over, and then paused with a frown once he saw Ranmaru’s expression of doubt. “I never thought I’d say this to you Kurosaki,” he said, propping himself up on his elbows to look him in the eyes. “But you need to stop thinking so much.”

Ranmaru narrowed his eyes, but another kiss silenced him. And well, his conscience satisfied, he couldn’t get enough of the taste of Camus, his clever tongue; he leaned forward to press Camus flat on his back, fidgeting with the buttons of his shirt blindly until Camus knocked his hands away and started undoing it instead.

Once Camus finished the task, he surprised Ranmaru by hooking a leg over his thigh and flipping them over. He sat triumphantly atop Ranmaru, shrugging out of his shirt. Ranmaru ground up into the solid weight on his dick, sighing, and then Camus leaned in to whisper in Ranmaru’s ear.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret.” He muttered, thumbing Ranmaru’s nipples and getting a small gasp in response. Camus smirked. “I already wanted a repeat performance of the last time we did this…” His hand raised higher, searching out a cat ear and rubbing the feltlike texture between his fingertips. Ranmaru shuddered. “And I love seeing you like this.”

Ranmaru bit his lip to cut off the moan that started to escape as Camus’s hands wandered. He was normally pretty quiet during sex, but everything felt so much more sensitive. He was flustered, and felt out of control, so to regain some ground he flipped them back over, pinning Camus by his shoulders.

“Stop it, asshole.” He grumbled, shoulders hunched around his ears. The smug face beneath him made him question whether he should kiss him or punch him. Camus tried to reach for his cat ears again and he ducked away, sitting back and unzipping Camus’s pants instead. He grazed his hand along the hardness there and watched Camus’s eyes fall closed. It urged him to go further, pulling Camus’s underwear and pants off his hips. Camus sat up, eyes dark with arousal, and Ranmaru couldn’t resist another kiss to his reddened lips, wrapping his hand around Camus’s cock between them and giving it a tug.

Now it was Camus’s turn to groan under his breath, and Ranmaru delighted at the sound, wanting more evidence that he could make the stoic man come apart. After a moment, he let himself slide off the bed to his knees, and Camus followed to the edge, kicking off his pants the rest of the way. Ranmaru placed his hand on Camus’s knee, meeting eyes with him before focusing on the straining cock in front of him. He used his other hand to grasp the base, and experimentally licked the tip, then nuzzled against the shaft, feeling the soft, hot texture on his cheek.

“Kurosaki,” Camus hissed, and Ranmaru felt the cock twitch in his grasp. He smirked up at Camus, enjoying the way his eyes narrowed in annoyance in return. “Don’t tease.”

Ranmaru shook his head and laughed, but took mercy on his bandmate and wrapped his lips around his cock. He bobbed his head, pausing to press his tongue against the tip and sucking when he reached as far as he could go. He tried swallowing more down bit by bit with each bob down. He choked a little, but managed to get most of Camus’s length down his throat.

Camus’s hand reached for Ranmaru’s cat ears, fondling one as he groaned, and Ranmaru shuddered again, moan vibrating on Camus’s dick in a “Mphh”. Distracted as he was, Ranmaru reached down to quickly unbutton his jeans, the pressure there unbearable. He absentmindedly palmed himself, feeling how hard this was making him, Camus petting his hair and gently guiding his head. He let himself get carried away in the heat of the moment and listening to Camus as he started to sound more and more wrecked.

He paused to catch a breath and rest his aching jaw, fisting Camus’s spitslicked cock and taking another peek up. Camus was flushed, panting with his head tilted back and eyes closed. He thrust up a little into Ranmaru’s grasp, and Ranmaru, sensing he was close, closed his mouth back over the tip and sucked.

A few more quick pulls of his tight fist and Camus gave a half moan, half sigh, thrusting up and coming in Ranmaru’s mouth.

Ranmaru hadn’t actually thought that far ahead and was surprised by the cum in his mouth, swallowing about half and with the rest slipping down his chin and Camus’s cock. What surprised him much more was his own orgasm suddenly hitting him like a truck, almost untouched. He doubled over, unable to contain the surprised little noises as pleasure washed over him in waves.

He sat there with his head pillowed on Camus’s thigh for a minute, catching his breath. _What the hell was that?_ He thought, a little too blissed out to think straight.

Eventually Ranmaru became aware that Camus was petting his cat ears again, and that he was purring from deep in his chest. He jerked up, fierce blush on his face. Camus was leaning back on one hand, looking as relaxed and pleased as Ranmaru had ever seen him. “I guess you don’t owe me anymore.” He purred.

Ranmaru rolled his eyes. His knees hurt, his throat hurt, and his underwear was sticky. He got up, wiping his chin, and headed for the bathroom to clean up.

Once he got out of his dirty boxers and started brushing his teeth, Ranmaru was able to think about it a little more clearly. It was so strange - he hadn’t felt close to finishing. But it had just happened, same time as Camus.

And now he looked like some kind of pervert that got off from giving blowjobs alone. Ranmaru huffed, taking another minute alone in the bathroom before having to go face Camus. He scowled at himself in the mirror, his swollen lips and mussed up hair. His cat ears were angled back defensively. It was annoying how they gave away his emotions all the time.

Finally he heaved a sigh and opened the door, ignoring the part of himself that was embarrassed to go back out naked. He was surprised to find Camus waiting at the door looking pissed off. “Took your time.” Camus groused, and Ranmaru remembered that he hadn’t exactly been neat.

“Tch.” Ranmaru shrugged, trying to act natural. He threw on a fresh pair of underwear and got under the covers, not knowing which bed Camus was going to sleep in and not really caring either. He was already snoring by the time Camus returned.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Ranmaru woke up feeling strangely alert, though it was still dark. He looked blearily at the alarm clock and was shocked to see that it was 4:30am. Groaning, he rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but it was no use. In front of him now was Camus, looking peaceful with his face half-buried in a pillow. Ranmaru studied his face in the light that came from the streetlight outside, until he got bored of that, and poked his shoulder.

Camus grumbled and pushed Ranmaru’s hand away. It gave Ranmaru pleasure to annoy him. “Camus, wake up.”

Camus’s smooth forehead creased as his eyebrows furrowed. “What time is it?” He mumbled exasperatedly. He leaned up on a forearm to see the time for himself before fixing Ranmaru with a near murderous look. “What is wrong with you?”

Ranmaru shrugged, and he felt one of his cat ears flick. “I’m awake. I’m bored.”

“And you thought I would care?” Camus asked scornfully, turning over with a final huff. Ranmaru knew if he pushed further he’d risk bodily injury, so instead he crawled out of bed, surveying the room a bit clueless as to what he should do.

After a minute of standing dumbly he dragged some sweatpants on. He eyed the connecting door to Reiji and Ai’s room, debating it for a moment before heading over and quietly going in.

As he approached Reiji’s bed, Ranmaru wondered again what the hell he was doing, because he didn’t have much of an objective in mind. He was just _up._ And wanted others to _be up._ Reiji was curled up on his side, one arm under his pillow. He had kicked the blankets half off, and he was right on the edge of his queen-sized bed, so Ranmaru crouched down beside him on the floor and inspected his face closely.

Reiji was so out that he was drooling a little. His hair was tumbled over his face in a way that would drive Ranmaru crazy. He reached out and brushed the hair behind Reiji’s ear, and when Reiji didn’t react, he poked his cheek. “Hey, Reiji.” He whispered.

Reiji’s breathing changed as he woke up a little, but he didn’t open his eyes. “Whassa matter, sweetie?” He mumbled, reaching a hand out and petting Ranmaru, following the curve of his head.

Ranmaru startled, falling back on his butt and breaking the - admittedly, nice - contact. Reiji rubbed his eye and yawned, eyes slowly focusing on Ranmaru staring at him dumbfounded from the floor.

“RanRan…?” He said, then laid his head back on the pillow, laughing quietly. “For some reason I thought you were my mom’s old cat Tama.”

Ranmaru scoffed. “Did that cat speak to you?”

Reiji chuckled again, then sighed sleepily. “Good point. Anyway, what’s wrong?”

“I…” Ranmaru hesitated because he knew it would sound dumb. “Can’t sleep.”

“Aw. C’mere.” Reiji reached his hand out, and Ranmaru took it after eyeing it suspiciously. He was pulled forward, Reiji scooting backwards in bed and Ranmaru clambering in beside him. He sat with his legs crossed beside Reiji, too awake to consider lying down.

Reiji didn’t let his hand go, lacing their fingers together and setting their joined hands on Ranmaru’s knee thoughtfully. It felt nice and tingly.

“Did Myu-chan kick you out?” Reiji murmured.

Ranmaru flinched, glad the darkness was probably hiding his expression. “Uhh… he wanted his beauty sleep.”

“It _is_ really early.”

Ranmaru relaxed again - now that he thought about it, the question wasn’t directly an accusation of them sleeping together. However, he was taken aback by Reiji’s light tone. “You’re taking this awfully well.”

“It feels kind of like a sleepover, doesn’t it?” Reiji said, and Ranmaru could barely make out his secretive smile in the dark. His eyes must have adjusted.

It did kind of feel like they were in a bubble, the only ones awake in the early hours of the day.

“Never been much for sleepovers.”

“Truth or dare?” Reiji asked, squeezing Ranmaru’s hand teasingly. Ranmaru groaned in annoyance.

“We’re not doing that.”

“C’mon, you woke me up.” Reiji pouted. “Just for a little?”

“...Fine. Dare.”

“Hmm.” Reiji thought for a minute. “I dare you… to meow!”

Ranmaru poked him in the ribs with his free hand. “Not gonna happen.”

Reiji sat halfway up to poke Ranmaru back. Ranmaru huffed a laugh. “You chose dare RanRan, you gotta do it!”

Ranmaru grabbed Reiji’s offending hand and tried to retaliate, but Reiji squirmed away before tackling him to the bed and running his fingers along Ranmaru’s sides. Ranmaru choked out another laugh, pushing away Reiji’s persistent hands.

“Say it!”

“No - ! Stop it!”

They wrestled around until Ranmaru got the upper hand - Reiji’s wrists pinned in one of his hands and mercilessly tickling him with the other - when he was smacked in the face by a pillow from across the room. Reiji couldn’t help another giggle at the sight even in the dim light, catching his breath.

From across the room, Ai’s sharp voice said, “Will you two keep it down?”

“Sorry,” Ranmaru said remorselessly as he flung the pillow back in the direction it came. It sounded like it at least partially connected with his target. He only got a moment of satisfaction from this before the pillow came rocketing back hard enough to knock him flat.

“RanRan!” Reiji cried dramatically, leaning over him and clenching his shirt in his fists. “Speak to me!” He also got a quickfire pillow in the face for his efforts, bowled over and laughing. With his heightened hearing, Ranmaru even thought he heard Ai let out a little chuckle.

Ai cleared his throat and scolded them. “Honestly. The two of you will need at least three more hours of sleep if you are to safely drive tomorrow. What’s gotten into you?”

“Sorry, AiAi, you’re right.” Reiji said, considerably more sincere than Ranmaru’s earlier apology. “Can you sleep now, Ran?”

He still didn’t exactly feel tired, but he grunted his agreement. He could take the bed Camus wasn’t using in the other room so the Count wouldn’t shank him for waking him up again.

However, he watched as Reiji grabbed one of the pillows that had previously been weaponized and placed it beside the one he was using. Then he shuffled back under the covers until he couldn’t pull them anymore because Ranmaru was still sitting awkwardly on top of them, unsure. “Come lay down.” Reiji urged, tugging at the covers meaningfully.

Ranmaru hesitated, then took him up on it, crawling to the other side of the bed and getting under the covers too. Reiji inched a little closer, and Ranmaru remembered what he’d said about “not minding” his newfound physicality. The space between them started to feel charged. Reiji shifted closer again, under the pretense of getting comfortable. He was way closer than he had to be for the size of the bed, but didn’t seem willing to break the invisible barrier between them.

 _Only because he obviously wants to._ Ranmaru told himself, slinging his arm over Reiji’s waist. Reiji huffed happily and squirmed closer, and a wave of fondness surprised Ranmaru. Without realizing it, he fell asleep quickly to the regular warm breath hitting his bare chest.

 

Later, something happened that Ranmaru wasn’t entirely sure if it was a dream or reality. He felt Reiji’s fingers tangling with his own, and long hair tickling his face. He nuzzled Reiji’s cheek, and next he felt hot breath against his lips; he closed the small gap for a soft, lazy kiss. When they parted it was scarce centimeters, their breath still mingling. Ranmaru felt the slight buzzing sensation that usually meant he was purring, but he didn’t care. After that, he didn’t remember anything.

 

* * *

 

“Well, isn’t this cute.”

Ranmaru pretended to still be asleep, not wanting to deal with Camus.

“Kurosaki. I can see your ears moving.”

 _Dammit._ Ranmaru peeked an eye open, glowering at the man looming over him. Looked like he was already dressed. “Go away.”

“Oh, _now_ you want to sleep.” Camus said, pinching one of his cat ears. It hurt, and Ranmaru hissed at him.

It was silent for a beat.

“Christ.” Ranmaru muttered, flushing in embarrassment. The joys just never ceased, did they? He looked down and realized he was still tangled up with Reiji. Ah.

Reiji looked at him with big eyes, like he was about to lose it, and Ranmaru making eye contact with the last straw. He burst out laughing, squeezing Ranmaru tighter to him while Ranmaru tried desperately to get away.

“Ahh! RanRan, that was so cute!”

“Did he just hiss?” Ai asked from the doorway.

 

* * *

 

After a quick breakfast they set off on the road again. Ranmaru watched the GPS’s estimate of the time left obsessively - nine hours, eight, seven…

“Can’t you go any faster?” He complained to Reiji, peering over his shoulder from the backseat to look at the speedometer.

“Not really, in these hills.” Reiji shrugged. They were heading into a more mountainous area and they had to get around a lot of slow trucks. “Ah, I miss my car…”

Ranmaru slouched back with a sigh. Camus was sitting beside him, the least likely to initiate contact during the day, and his head was starting to pound. Like hell he would ask for anything though, so he just dealt with it.

“We probably won’t make it before night at this pace.” Ai commented from shotgun. He was reading a book, seemingly unaffected by the curving mountain roads.

“So?” Ranmaru asked.

“So, maybe we shouldn’t barge into this stranger’s house in the dead of night?” Camus rolled his eyes. “We don’t even know who lives there, or their connection to the girl who cursed you.”

“Well, I don’t care. It’s an emergency.” Ranmaru retorted.

“Idiot.” Camus sighed.

“What did you say?!”

“Guys, please.” Reiji said, frowning at them in the rear view mirror. “Let’s just see if we can make it.”

But as usual, Ai was correct, and they arrived at the town in the dead of night. They only made it this far in one day by Ranmaru’s insistence, even if he had to drive a larger portion. Reiji woke up from napping in the passenger seat to start looking up hotels on his phone, which pissed off an already livid Ranmaru.

“Like I said, we’re going tonight!”

“RanRan, it’s too suspicious. They probably wouldn’t even come to the door this late.” Reiji looked to the others for help, and they stared back at him silently, tired of this fight. He sighed.

“Let’s go to this place. Please? Small town… there’s only one hotel on the map, really.” Reiji said, showing Ranmaru his phone.

Ranmaru growled, but followed the GPS, arriving at the motel in a few minutes. As much as he hated it, he was not in top shape right now, tired from driving and pained from lack of physical contact. Bickering all day had not been good for his condition.

“What a dump.” Ranmaru groused. The motel looked very dated, with only one story of sad little rooms to rent.

Camus was already getting out, desperate to get out of the car and away from his band. He headed to part of the building labeled “Office” with a neon sign. Ranmaru got out and stretched, leaning against the car and generally feeling sorry for himself. _Stupid to stop when we’re so close. I’m sick of all this shit._ He closed his eyes against the pounding of his head.

Eventually Camus came back from the office, leveling the group with a pissed expression even from a distance. “Uh-oh.” Reiji said.

“What?” Ranmaru asked as he approached.

“They only have one room left. A king.”

“Seriously?!” Ranmaru said, then huffed when Ai shushed him, throwing his duffle bag over his shoulder. “Couch?”

“No.” Camus threw a copy of the key at him, grabbing his stuff out of the trunk.

They headed to the room, and Ranmaru hoped they had made some kind of mistake and there would actually be two beds. But when he opened the door, it was clearly true. One king sized bed, an entertainment system straight from the 90s, and barely any space to walk around.

No one said anything for a moment as they set their bags down, but their disappointment in Reiji’s choice was apparent. The man in question put a mostly convincing smile on. “We’ll just have to make it work, right guys?”

“I’m sleeping on the floor.” Ranmaru deadpanned.

“No, you’re not.” Camus said. He brushed his hand over Ranmaru’s forehead and through his bangs, just a quick touch, but it had Ranmaru’s eyes sliding shut, cat ears perking up from their permanently angry state. Camus snorted.

“There’s no room anyway.” Ai added. Ranmaru scoffed.

“We’ll go as early as we can tomorrow. I’m sorry, RanRan.” Reiji said from behind him, wrapping his arms around Ranmaru's waist. He'd gotten pretty gutsy now that he knew Ranmaru wouldn’t elbow him off _._

Ranmaru sighed with relief at the contact, but while he was distracted, Camus leaned closer, hand angling Ranmaru’s chin. Their noses brushed before Ranmaru jerked away, stumbling back against Reiji.

“Woah!” Reiji giggled, squeezing Ranmaru tighter. “Your head probably hurts, right? I guess we slacked off today. Sorry.”

“He just didn’t earn it.” Camus said smugly. Ranmaru growled at him, face flushed red. What was he thinking, doing that right in front of the other two!?

Ai had obviously seen it but didn’t react, just digging through his belongings as if nothing happened. Ranmaru untangled himself from Reiji and squeezed past him, escaping his position between the two men.

While he was brushing his teeth, Ranmaru tried to think of a game plan. So far he had not managed to sleep in the same bed with someone without waking up all over them. How was he possibly getting out of this situation without embarrassing himself in front of the whole band?

 _Sleep on the edge and hope for the best._ He thought, looking at himself nonplussed in the mirror. The headache was back in manageable territory, and it hopefully wouldn’t be something he had to deal with much longer once he found that witch.

Ranmaru got into the bed on the left edge, laying on his side and trying to ignore how awkward he felt. Ai was already in bed, and someone got in behind him. With three people in the bed it already seemed tight, but manageable. Then the lights flicked off, and he relaxed a little, only to be pushed unceremoniously backwards. He was squished into Ai. “Hey - !”

“Move over.” Camus murmured, and then a familiarly cool body was in his space, and there was nowhere to put his curled legs that wasn't touching Camus.

Ai’s shoulder was digging into his back now. “There’s no room,” Ranmaru complained.

“Any further and I’ll fall off!” Reiji said. Ai squirmed away from him a minuscule amount. Camus did nothing to fix the problem, so Ranmaru turned over with a huff to face Ai instead, struggling with the blankets being pulled in so many directions. He was going to start this night off in a non-embarrassing position, _somehow._

This was a bad move in hindsight, because Camus just smoothly fit himself up against Ranmaru, touching him from shoulder to knee, and it felt _wonderful._ All thoughts of keeping to himself tonight flew from his mind, and his next exhale was tinged with a purr.

He froze, waiting for someone to call him on it, but maybe it blended in with the noisy heating system because nobody said anything. Camus leaned down and nibbled Ranmaru’s neck as if to say _he_ heard. Ranmaru elbowed him, and Camus bit a little harder in response.

“Ow,” Ranmaru hissed without meaning to.

Previously ignored, Ai shifted in the darkness. “Does your head still hurt?” He questioned calmly.

“Uh. Yeah.” Ranmaru said, taking the excuse gratefully. Better that than ‘No, some bastard bit me.’

Ranmaru noticed that Ai’s eyes glowed faintly. _I wonder if he has night vision,_ he thought nervously.

Ai turned on his side, placing his hand on top of Ranmaru’s where it was resting on the bed by his shoulder. Then he closed his eyes. “Goodnight.”

“Night!” Reiji said, and then it was quiet. Ranmaru had nowhere to go between his two bandmates, but now that he was here, he didn’t know why he had dreaded it. He felt comfortable and tingly all over, and Camus’s body always seemed to keep him from overheating when he generally would throw the blankets off. With his headache quickly dissipating, Ranmaru fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

He had a dream that he was late for a rehearsal. He was trying to get his amp hooked up, but it kept making this weird buzzing noise. A stagehand walked over and Ranmaru asked him to take a look, but the guy just started petting his head in long, slow strokes. Ranmaru furiously whirled on him - and then woke up with a start.

The buzzing noise appeared to be happening in real life, too, and it stuttered as he woke up. Of course, it was the damn purring again. What had woken him up was a hand sifting through his hair, scratching his cat ears. He couldn’t help but sigh, bumping his head against the hand.

“There’s no way it can get louder than that.” Reiji whispered from close by.

Ranmaru was confused by the statement, but was having a hard time getting his brain to form thoughts, much less words. All he managed was a, “Hah…?”

A different hand curled around the back of his neck with confidence, scratching pleasantly through his hair and then massaging firmly at the base of his skull.

 _What -_ He didn’t know why, but it felt really good. An embarrassing sound escaped before he ducked his head, softly colliding with someone’s shoulder. It felt like his chest was practically vibrating. He opened his eyes, and saw that it was Ai that he’d gotten his arms around tonight, though he could still feel Camus at his back. And sense his smug aura.

“Wow! How did you even do that, AiAi?” Reiji said.

“Simply from observing him this week.” Ai responded. The rubbing didn’t stop, and Ranmaru shuddered, squeezing Ai tighter to him. It was overwhelming, but kind of in a good way. He noticed again how well Ai's body seemed to fit against his.

“What - t-the hell - are you doing,” Ranmaru growled, less intimidating when muffled by Ai’s pajama top.

“Just a little friendly competition.” Camus rumbled in his cat ear from behind him. Okay, this needed to stop before Ai noticed him getting hard.

Ranmaru released Ai from his clutches and turned over, starting to push Camus off the bed. “Lemme out! If we’re all awake, why aren’t we leaving!?”

Camus was closer to the edge than Ranmaru thought, and a hard shove sent him off the bed. But not before he grabbed a fistful of Ranmaru’s shirt and took him down with him clumsily. “Hey - !”

They landed at odd angles on the floor with a crash, Ranmaru mostly landing on Camus in a way that could not have been pleasant.

“Kurosaki, you - get off me!” Camus immediately launched a counter attack.

“You think I _want_ to -” They wrestled around in the floor space between the bed and the heater, having trouble actually getting apart in the cramped space. Finally Ranmaru managed to crawl out of the space and get to his feet, though he was sure he had some new bruises.

Camus pushed past him and stomped to the bathroom first, grumbling about the _audacity_ and other grievances.

Ranmaru turned his eyes to Reiji and Ai, who were still looking rather cozy on the bed. Reiji was giving him an amused look, head propped up on his hand. Ranmaru huffed. “Come on, lets go!”

“Ahhh,” Reiji shook his head and sighed, but he started climbing out of bed. “RanRan, I know you hate it, but I’m gonna miss those cute ears.”

“They are helpful in reading your emotional state.” Ai agreed. “It’s just like the cat charts online.”

Ranmaru made an exasperated noise and spun on his heel, ripping some random clothes out of his bag and pulling off his sleep shirt. “...I just hope this place actually gives us a lead.” He muttered.

 

They drove another 10 minutes or so until they arrived at a small house with chickens out front. 

“This is really it?” Ranmaru asked.

“According to the GPS.” Reiji said, double checking his phone.

They approached the front door, Reiji giving it a friendly knock. The band waited nervously while they heard footsteps, then a woman came to the door.

“So sorry to bother you!” Reiji started before she could express her surprise. “We’re looking for a young woman, she’s got long black hair… she left this address behind, and we need to talk to her.”

The woman gazed at them through the screen door critically, and then her eyes widened. “Oh, you’re those… Quartet boys?”

Reiji cringed a little. “Uh, yeah.”

“Oh no. What did she do?” The woman sounded long-suffering now. Ranmaru took his beanie off and revealed his black cat ears, hopeful that she would get the picture quickly.

“God. Okay, you guys should come in.”

Ranmaru exchanged looks with his bandmates and then they went inside. She ushered them to a big wooden table and then disappeared to the kitchen, raising her voice to continue talking to them.

“So Nadine cast something on you? How long ago?”

“Few days ago.” Ranmaru answered, hesitantly taking a seat. Looking around, the walls were full of shelves containing all kinds of strange knick-knacks and glass bottles. They had obviously found another witch. “We just want to get rid of it. Where is she?”

The woman came back out with a tray of tea. Camus seemed pleased, immediately dumping a few large spoonfuls of sugar into his mug.

“I can’t say for sure, she lives a few hours away. I just moved here, so that’s why she must have had my address written down.” She said thoughtfully, stirring her tea. “I’m Lena, by the way. Nadine’s my little sis.”

They introduced themselves and explained what happened at the meet-and-greet. Lena looked mortified. “I know it doesn’t fix anything, but I apologize on my sister’s behalf. I’m so sorry… I am gonna kick her ass…” She gripped her phone as if thinking about using it, but put it back down instead.

“But that’s for later.” She said with a small smile. “For now, lets undo the curse.”

“Can you do that?” Reiji asked excitedly, Ranmaru perking up beside him.

“I wouldn’t be worth much if I couldn’t undo my little sister’s magic.” Lena said. “I’ll prep a nullifying spell, you can wait here.”

Ranmaru waited with his arms crossed, cat ears flattening as more time went by. How could he wait patiently now when he’d been hoping for this all week? Ai investigated the various items Lena had on her shelves, and Camus sipped his tea, calm as ever.

Reiji patted Ranmaru’s arm with a sympathetic smile after a few minutes, and it reminded Ranmaru of the time he did the same thing at the rest stop at the beginning of their trip. Ranmaru felt the usual mix of emotions that he got when Reiji tried comforting him: relieved from the touch, and annoyed that Reiji could read him so well. He wondered if Reiji hadn’t been so touchy-feely, if he would have just wasted away on this trip. He did feel grateful for that, and he smiled warmly at Reiji before he could catch himself.

Reiji looked surprised but happy, maybe even a little flustered. He squeezed Ranmaru’s arm a little before withdrawing his hand.

Eventually Lena returned, reading glasses on her face and a notebook in hand. “Okay, sorry about that. You ready?” Ranmaru nodded and approached her from where he’d been pacing anxiously.

“You should sit down… it’s pretty normal to feel dizzy when magic is used on you.” Lena suggested.

Ranmaru resisted the urge to argue with her and sat down, too anxious to get this over with. Lena sat beside him and laid her notebook on the table. He tried to read it, but it didn’t look like anything he could understand.

“Give me your hand.” She said, and Ranmaru did, shooting one last look at his bandmates. They were watching intently.

Lena began chanting. It felt similar to the first time, dizzying and exhausting, but since he was ready for it, Ranmaru didn’t totally lose consciousness. He sagged in his chair, everything sounding like it was underwater as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

“... --Ran, can you hear me?” The blurry figure before him slowly came into focus and he saw it was Reiji. He sat up straighter, groaning a little and bringing his head up from where it had lolled to his shoulder.

“Did it work?” He asked.

Reiji patted the top of his head, and insanely enough, it felt weird because there _weren’t_ any cat ears to collide with. “You tell me!” Reiji said with a smile.

Ranmaru grinned, running a hand through his own hair to be sure. Nothing! He leapt to his feet, only a little wobbly. “Hell yes!”

“I know what I’m doing.” Lena said proudly, but she also smiled at Ranmaru’s happiness. Then she flipped to the next page in her notebook, skimming over what was written there.

“Did you learn the full extent of the curse when you removed it?” Ai asked, peering at her notebook curiously.

“I added a clause to replicate the original spell onto this page.” Lena replied, tapping the page she was on. “In case Nadine tries to lie about it. Hm, it’s just like you guys said. She only cast the spell halfway before she was cut off, so Kurosaki-san got the symptoms without being bound to her specifically. The cat traits, hypersensitivity, touch starvation headaches, uh…” Her eyes widened and she paused awkwardly. “U-um, yup, that’s all.”

“That’s all?” Camus asked, his tone polite but his eyes saying ‘quit the bullshit’.

“Well, there’s something else here, but it probably didn’t come up, so --”

“Say it!” Ranmaru insisted, indignation rising at the thought of what else this Nadine girl did to him.

Lena grimaced, then let out a sigh. “Okay, well, my sister, she… added an effect here that makes it a requirement to ‘reach completion simultaneously with thine partner’.” At Ranmaru’s blank look, she elaborated. “Er. Sexually.”

Ranmaru was speechless. That meant that, when he was with Camus… that was why…

He put all his effort into keeping his expression neutral, and definitely, _definitely_ did not look at Camus. Or anyone. Unfortunately, he could feel his face burning.

Lena gulped at the silence, covering her own embarrassed face with her hands. “Sooooo, anyway, can’t apologize enough, here, uh I just made some cookies so I’ll wrap some up for the drive back…” She ran away to the kitchen.

Ranmaru finally glanced at Camus when it felt safe to do so. Camus had a hand to his chin, giving Ranmaru a knowing, amused look. Ranmaru glared at him hard, trying to telepathically send the message ‘ _I will kill you.’_ Camus broke eye contact and covered his mouth, desperately trying not to laugh.

“ _Was_ that information pertinent?” Ai asked bluntly during this exchange.

Ranmaru shook his head vehemently. “No! Why would it be?!”

“Well --” Ai started, but Reiji started talking at the same time, making Ranmaru grateful for his motormouth. “I’m relieved that you’re all better, RanRan. And we still have most of this day left for driving… we can probably make it to a better hotel before night.” He started looking at routes on his phone.

A bundle of cookies in hand, the band said farewell to Lena and got back on the road. They had a long drive ahead of them.

 

* * *

 

Not long after they got back, Ranmaru and Reiji got a gig shooting an advertisement with some of the guys from STARISH. The group of them were loitering around while the crew set up in between shots.

Ranmaru was scrolling through his phone, doing his best to ignore the rest of the group’s idle chatter. Reiji approached him, and he sighed internally.

“RanRan, I’m cooold.” Reiji complained, invading his personal space.

“You should have brought a coat, idiot.” He replied without looking. They were shooting a summer scene, so everyone was wearing tank tops and shorts, but the set was pretty cold. It wasn’t bothering Ranmaru, but he did the first thing that felt natural, which was to wrap an arm over Reiji’s shoulders and pull him in close. Even after the curse ended, for some reason Ranmaru felt a lot better about casually touching his bandmates. _Only_ his band, though.

It wasn’t until he heard sputtering and giggles that he realized that probably wasn’t a normal reaction. Finally looking away from his phone, he saw the STARISH group gawking at them from a few meters away. Syo was even grumbling and handing Natsuki some money. Reiji wrapped his arms around Ranmaru’s waist to leech more warmth and grinned, happy as can be.

“Thanks, RanRan~”

“Don’t use me for bets, dammit!”

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!


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